January 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Today, the Russian parliament officially finalized ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The ratification, following the December vote in the US Senate, brings the new treaty officially into effect. Bilateral nuclear disarmament is now moving forward, with historic reductions and new provisions to allow for cooperation and verification, and the securing of technologies that could fall through the cracks if not carefully supervised.
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January 19, 2011 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
China’s president Hu Jintao is visiting the United States and will be the focus of several state-level functions, including a full state dinner and a special luncheon hosted by the vice president, Joe Biden. In the face of US demands that China remove rate controls and allow its currency to appreciate, Pres. Hu has said the yuan should be thought of as the world’s currency standard, with other currencies priced against its value.
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January 16, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
The hardline government of Tunisia, which had ruled for 23 years, was toppled this week by street protests which at times turned violent. Clashes between police and demonstrators raised questions about whether authorities would be able to quell an uprising. The president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee the country, after one of [...]
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January 10, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
South Sudan, a region that lives every day with the deep wounds of a long-running civil war that took more than 2 million lives, yesterday saw democracy play out peacefully, as locals went to the polls to vote in the referendum promised by a 2005 peace treaty with the Khartoum government in northern Sudan. The referendum will decide whether southern Sudan secedes from the larger nation, and with international observers and aid groups staging a formidable presence, and Khartoum sounding peaceable, day one of the vote was free of violence, and much like a celebration.
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December 24, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The small west African nation of Ivory Coast (also known by its French name Côte d’Ivoire) may be on the brink of civil war. After delaying presidential elections for 5 years, Pres. Laurent Gbagbo is reported to have disqualified over 500,000 ballots from opposition strongholds and is refusing to accept the results which show his opponent as the winner. Yesterday, the UN General Assembly (representing all member nations) formally recognized Gbagbo’s opponent, Alassane Ouattara, as president, in a unanimous vote.
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December 23, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
William Fitzgerald, Deputy Assistant US Secretary of State for African Affairs, told the PBS NewsHour today that the United States fears a “brutal situation” could unfold in Ivory Coast, if Pres. Gbagbo, who lost a recent presidential run-off election, does not step down. At least 176 people have been reported killed, with dozens more reported to have been abducted or subjected to torture, in what appears to be an authoritarian crackdown against supporters of the victorious opposition leader.
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December 22, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
One of Pres. Obama’s signature initiatives, announced upon taking office, in an historic address to over 100,000 people in Prague, is moving the international community toward a “world without nuclear weapons”. Despite rising tensions with an increasingly authoritarian Russian Federation, under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, Obama negotiated a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Putin’s younger successor, Pres. Dmitry Medvedev.
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December 5, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
There are reports online that suggest the US Dept. of State may be seeking to suppress the use of data and information emerging from WikiLeaks document releases, telling possible recruits that all such information remains “classified”, i.e. secret, and that any use of such data, including reposting of links to the leaks themselves or to WikiLeaks generally, will disqualify them from serving at the Dept. of State. Critics say this is an attempt to avoid facing reality and an undemocratic demand against the the right to free and open debate.
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November 9, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The Burmese ruling military junta, which officially corrected the English translation to Myanmar —a more traditional pronunciation— after it seized power, has staged the first democratic elections in two decades, and observers both inside and outside the country are saying the vote process was rigged to favor pro-junta politicians. The military also retains no less than 25% of all seats in the new parliament, which will double as an electoral college to choose the president.
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November 9, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Over the past three days, my wife Michelle and I have experienced the — and dynamism of India and its people — from the majesty of Humayun’s Tomb to the advanced technologies that are empowering farmers and women who are the backbone of Indian society; from the Diwali celebrations with schoolchildren to the innovators who are fueling India’s economic rise; from the university students who will chart India’s future, to you —-leaders who helped to bring India to this moment of extraordinary promise.
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October 22, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
French president Nicholas Sarkozy’s plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and to reform the pension system has sparked a massive, coordinated general strike that has seen air traffic cut in half, and fuel supplies interrupted across the country. More than one-quarter of filling stations are reportedly out of fuel, and gas lines are causing commerce to break down: strike organizers promise a war of attrition.
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October 2, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
A new report on the intricacies of regional involvement in the brutal civil war that was fought in the Democratic Republic of Congo, between the late 1990s and early 2000s, whose resulting chaos, factionalism and scarcity, continue to take huge numbers of lives every month, has found that other nations contributed to the hostilities and that some alleged atrocities might constitute war crimes or genocide. Rwanda, Burundi and other nations, say the report is flawed and they were not involved in any such crimes.
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September 26, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Former Pres. Bill Clinton told CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, in an interview before a live audience this week at the Clinton Global Initiative, in New York City, that a commitment to clean energy is required to drive job growth, cut unemployment and boost the economy. He noted that the four countries who are projected to beat their clean energy targets under the Kyoto Protocol —Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the U.K.— all have lower unemployment, and less economic inequality than the U.S., due to the green tech boom.
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September 1, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Pres. Barack Obama appeared today at the White House, alongside Pres. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan, PM Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Pres. Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority, to relaunch intensive peace negotiations between the government of Israel and the leadership of the Palestinian people. The event was a major breakthrough, considering the tensions that had earlier arisen between the US and Israeli administrations and the ongoing hostilities in the region.
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August 26, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
The American right has been relentless in its assault on the character, talents and leadership qualities of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter since the Republican campaign against him in the 1980 presidential election cycle. Their attacks have rested on the assertion that his altruistic politics, his emphasis on responsible governance, and his wariness of handing public services to private profit-makers, were a general failure of leadership. In fact, their attacks on Carter are rooted in a rhetorical sympathy for the fundamentalist clerics who took power in Iran.
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July 5, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Sustainable security is a paradigm shift in foreign policy, economic and defense planning: it entails considering that not only diplomatic relations and military preparedness or alliances, but the full spectrum of connections between our society and the world abroad, determine the degree to which our future security and prosperity can be reasonably guaranteed.
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June 5, 2010 :: Carmen Visna :: 3 Comments
The environmental catastrophe resulting from BP’s blown-out deepwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst seen in the US, but Ecuador’s ongoing battle with pervasive, persistent toxic contamination relating to Texaco’s operations in the remote Amazon is the worst oil-related environmental disaster the world has ever seen. In a once-pristine corner of the Ecuadoran Amazon rainforest, Texaco dumped billions of gallons of petroleum waste byproduct, contaminating groundwater and ruining the local environment irreparably.
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June 4, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Malaria Kills Millions Every Year in Africa. It is responsible for anywhere from 1 to 3 million deaths per year, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts to eradicate the disease are mounting: in the year 2000, just 3% of children under 5, in sub-Saharan Africa, slept with mosquito nets; by 2008, that figure had risen to 56%. Aid groups now project that aggressive preventive measures can protect 100% of the population by the end of 2010 and reduce the number of deaths to near zero by 2015.
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June 4, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev has said Israel will attempt to intercept the MV Rachel Corrie, a ship carrying humanitarian cargo and aid workers into the Gaza Strip. Tensions with Turkey are reaching fever pitch, as Turkey’s prime minister vows the killing of Turkish nationals by the IDF will never be forgotten, and there is now heated political discussion in Turkey about whether to send warships to escort the next flotilla of aid-bearing ships that sail for Gaza.
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June 2, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: One Comment
The humanitarian aid vessel known as the Rachel Corrie —named for the American activist killed when she refused to move from an attempt to block the Israeli military (IDF) from a bulldozing operation— is now en route to Gaza, and will likely face the Israeli military blockade, which seeks to maintain an absolute embargo on any cargo and any persons entering Gaza except by way of the IDF. Israel has said it will not “seek confrontation”, but it will “defend Israeli citizens threatened by this terror from the sea”.
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June 1, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The European Union is dealing harshly with nations that are suffering the converging crises of economic downturn, joblessness and swelling budget deficits. Spain is taking aggressive action to reduce public spending, but such “austerity measures” may be deepening, instead of resolving, the economic crisis.
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May 31, 2010 :: Carmen Visna :: Comments Off
Tropical Storm Agatha has become one of the top ten deadliest tropical storm systems on record, behind 6 full-force hurricanes, dropping nearly two feet of rain on central America in two days, flooding multiple nations’ low-lying areas and creating havoc across the region. At least 142 people have been killed, mostly in flooding and landslides, and coffee growers and farmers are preparing for potential long-term impact on agriculture across the region.
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May 31, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Facing challenges in the courts and nearly ready to reach its effective date, Arizona’s immigrant ID law —which allows local police to demand immigration documents from anyone based on “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented— is now facing a nationwide wave of protest. Arizona is facing official boycotts from cities, businesses and individuals around the country, and claims the law is necessary.
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April 18, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama’s nuclear diplomacy has already defined one of the most successful periods of progress toward collaboration on international peace and security since the Second World War. His Nuclear Security Summit, hosted this month in Washington, DC, helped further the goal of steering the world toward a moment in which nuclear proliferation is more science fiction than an immediate threat.
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April 13, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
[T]oday is an opportunity — not simply to talk, but to act. Not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress on the security of our people. All this, in turn, requires something else, which is something more fundamental. It will require a new mindset — that we summon the will, as nations and as partners, to do what this moment in history demands. I believe strongly that the problems of the 21st century cannot be solved by any one nation acting in isolation. They must be solved by all of us coming together.
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April 10, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (StART) is a major accomplishment for US foreign policy, helping to move the world toward a future without nuclear weapons. The signing caps a year of bold, imaginative diplomacy, kicked off with an historic speech in Prague, in which he declared “clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
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March 11, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Even as Haiti grapples with the deep and lasting devastation of the earthquake that left tens of millions dead, millions homeless and destroyed vital infrastructure needed to maintain routine food distribution and medical care, hundreds of thousands of people are now vulnerable to catastrophic flooding expected to hit the low-lying camps where they are struggling to maintain makeshift tent cities. As many as one million people need to be relocated and/or given viable shelter, to avoid the rapid spread of infectious disease.
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March 10, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
On the second morning of the 54th Commission on the Status of Women, Gender Links and the African Woman and Child Feature Service —through the Gender and Media Diversity Centre— hosted a roundtable dialogue involving Marren Akatsa-Bukachi of the Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), Francisco Cos-Montiel of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Revai Makanje of Hivos, Norah Matovu-Winyi of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network, and Jennifer Lewis of Gender Links as facilitator, with Mwendabai Yeta Mkhize and myself providing event support and reporting.
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March 2, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
“From Social Media to Social Action” was the subject of one of the morning sessions on Day 1 of the 12-day 54th annual Commission on the Status of Women, at the UN headquarters in New York. A panel of pioneering and accomplished women, from diverse fields of research, activism, and enterprise, offered a far-reaching exploration of the ways in which new media can help to effect change and improve the situation of women, around the world. Outreach, social networking, and informational access, were integral to the morning session’s discussion.
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March 1, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The International Museum of Women, an online art gallery, which aims to foster dialogue and promote new educational directions for women and in relation to issues of women’s rights and opportunity, is hosting an exhibit called ‘Ecomomica’, which explores the role women play in the evolving global economy.
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February 27, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake has hit central Chile, the epicenter estimated about 200 miles southwest of the capital Santiago, roughly 70 miles from the city of Concepción, the nation’s second most populous city. The tremor lasted about 90 seconds and caused serious damage to roads and bridges. 122 people are confirmed dead, according to Chilean authorities, and a tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific Ocean basin (including Hawai’i, Japan and the Philippines).
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February 27, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
‘Psychic numbing’ is a relatively new term, assigned to the phenomenon which shows people tend to feel less urgent compassion, and tend to give less, when the suffering in question is shown to be more systemic and more pervasive, or affecting larger numbers of people. Some psychologists believe it is linked to our intuitive sense that if one suffers alone, the suffering is worse, but if one is accompanied, there might be some security in numbers, not just emotionally, but practically.
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February 15, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 6.9 million people in 12 years. No war has cost more innocent lives since World War II, and the level of extreme violence, brutality against women, and even the enslavement of families and villages, appears to be escalating. The world’s attention has yet to fully focus on the plight of the Congolese civilians living in a state of perpetual extreme crisis day after day.
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February 12, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC / DR Congo) has claimed an estimated 6.9 million lives since 1998. The International Rescue Committee has estimated, through a peer-reviewed study, that an average of 45,000 people are dying every month as a result of the ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC. This makes the Congo war by far the deadliest war since World War II, though there is shockingly little energy in the international community to act to stop it.
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January 18, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
[R]ecognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.
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January 18, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The bottleneck problem is center stage, as the volume of aid appears to outpace the remaining transport infrastructure for getting it where it needs to go. Today, Haitian authorities have complained there may be too exclusive a focus on the capital Port-au-Prince, causing some heavily devastated population centers to be left unattended, by comparison.
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January 18, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Apple has set up a special section of its iTunes Music Store to allow users to donate directly to the Red Cross. The funds are charged through the user’s iTunes account, billed to the same bank account or credit card on file, and use the same process as for buying a song, video or iPhone app. The move is the latest in a series of high-profile actions designed to help expedite the delivery of charitable donations to the Haiti relief effort.
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January 16, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The following is a list of updates on the situation in Haiti, including resources for people searching for missing loved ones: List of Disaster Relief Efforts for Haiti … Haiti plans massive evacuation of quake-hit homeless – Xinhua … Sec. of State Clinton reviews Haiti relief efforts – Washington Post … UN: Haiti quake catastrophe poses unprecedented relief problems – Monsters & Critics … Haiti Earthquake : Photos (Some very graphic images) – CNN … Canada to speed up immigration requests from Haiti – Washington Post … L’aide internationale se déploie dans un climat tendu en Haïti – Le Monde … A l’appel d’Obama, Bush rejoint Clinton pour aider Haïti – Le Monde … Google lance un outil de recherche des victimes – Le Monde … Haïti. J+4 Distribution d’eau potable pour 35000 personnes – Ouest-France … Le Sénégal octroie un soutien de 500.000 dollars à Haïti – Agence de Presse Africaine …
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January 15, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama has asked former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to join together to help oversee the administration of the massive relief effort now descending on Haiti. The Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund is now online at ClintonBushHaitiFund.org, with a mission to ensure that funds coming in are directed to where they are most needed.
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January 15, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Fully three days after the catastrophic earthquake that struck the region of the Haitian capital, the bodies of thousands of dead are reported to be arrayed in the streets and being moved into mass graves, with likely no way to trace who is buried there. While massive amounts of international aid are moving into the disaster zone, and the Haitian government continues to function and is meeting every morning and afternoon to coordinate relief efforts, the sheer scale of the destruction is hampering the delivery of aid to neighborhoods blocked off by rubble and filled with dead and injured.
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January 14, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama outlined today a wide array of search and rescue, relief aid and security efforts his administration is sending to Haiti to assist the Haitian people in dealing with the worst recorded earthquake to strike their nation. The US president promised Haiti’s people that the US will not forget the victims of the Haitian quake and that “more search and rescue teams” are on their way. He also said his administration will invest an initial amount of $100 million to support its relief efforts in Haiti, and that this investment will grow.
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January 14, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The disaster response for the Haitian earthquake has been swift and coordinated, channeling massive international resources to the affected area. But the logistics of deploying the resources, personnel and technology needed to deliver comprehensive disaster assistance, are beyond complicated, with roads and transport overwhelmed, and means of contacting the wounded almost non-existent.
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January 14, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti two days ago has left an unknown number of thousands of people dead or missing, destroyed the service infrastructure in the capital and left a precarious situation for millions of survivors. The disaster response effort has been swift and international, with rescue and relief teams scrambling from across the world to get to Haiti.
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January 14, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Red Cross (ICRC) relief & rescue efforts in Haiti
Haïti : le CICR intensifie ses efforts pour venir en aide aux victimes du séisme
UNICEF Emergency Relief Effort for Haiti
L’UNICEF déploie son aide d’urgence après le tremblement de terre
Doctors without Borders: Setting up clinics to serve the wounded
MSF: Haïti: des centaines de blessés reçoivent les premiers soins
USAID Haiti Earthquake Disaster Response …
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January 13, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble, and to deliver the humanitarian relief — the food, water and medicine — that Haitians will need in the coming days. In that effort, our government, especially USAID and the Departments of State and Defense are working closely together and with our partners in Haiti, the region, and around the world.
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January 13, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The president of the island nation of Haiti, René Preval, has told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta in an interview conducted on the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince that the situation on the ground is “incredible”, adding that “you have to see it to believe it”. The destruction is widespread and the human suffering inestimable. Small health clinics are overwhelmed by massive numbers of casualties, as public health infrastructure has collapsed.
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January 12, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is described tonight as in a state of disaster, with some reports suggesting there are more buildings destroyed than left standing, after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake at 4:53 this afternoon. The epicenter of the quake is reported to have been just 10 miles away from Port-au-Prince, with the most severe tremors and violent shaking felt across an area 70 miles in diameter. There are no reliable estimates so far of loss of life, but thousands are feared killed.
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January 8, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
After decades of environmental scientists seeking to raise awareness about the detrimental impacts of burning ever more carbon-based fuels, the Copenhagen Accord shows a global willingness to recognize the gravity of the issue and to take concrete —if as yet unnamed— policy actions to address the challenges of coming decades.
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January 5, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
At the end of Barack Obama’s first year in office, there is controversy over the nature and extent of his accomplishments, and even some allies and supporters appear to have forgotten the atmosphere of multidirectional crisis in which Obama took office. What’s more, the steady decline in Obama’s approval ratings appears to follow very closely a shift in media reporting away from reporting facts and back to the hyper-commentary style of the run-up to the Iraq war, an atmosphere in which conservative political propaganda fares better than the facts of deliberative action.
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January 4, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
En mesa redonda, en el programa 59 segundos de la TVE, un panel de periodistas y analistas políticos debaten los méritos y desafíos del primer año del mandato de Barack Obama, presidente de Estados Unidos. Entre las complicaciones, debaten las expectativas, tal vez más globales y desafiantes que las que encontró ningún otro presidente al llegar al poder, y la agresiva resistencia de sus contrincantes políticos a la ética del diálogo y de la política colaborativa.
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